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backyard pools gain popula h stouffville swimming pools have made if youll pardon the expression a big splash in the stouff- ville area this sum mer marvin betz of betz pools estimates there are about 100 private pools in or near whitchurch-stouff- ville he said perhaps a dozen of these would be in stouffville proper his firm has installed two pools in town so far this summer many people said mr betz start with an aboveground pool later when a little more money is available they will have an inground pool installed betz pools specialize in customdesigned installations where the price is based on square footage the firm does not work on inground vinyl pools steelreinforced concrete is their preferred material pools are generally considered better than ponds as a properly built pools can be cleaned and kept in top condition besides how often do you see a cow in a swimming pool as mr betz pointed out though there is a our money earns more v easy way help local bylaw which requires all pools to be fenced many municipalities if not most have such a bylaw no such restriction however applies to ponds the tribune talked to mrs lome schell who has recently had a pool installed by betz mrs schell who has four children ranging in age from 9 to 17 said the pool has been in constant use since its installation early in june i think there was one day they didnt use it she said they were too tired out mr and mrs schell moved into their house on the ninth line north just two years- ago after living in an apartment for several years the swimming pool is something they always hoped to have mrs schell feels the swimming pool is family affair the me sugar and spice trees are for the birds by bill smiley for years i have been a treelover not that i knew anything about them or ever planted any but i did know the common varieties and i did have a feeling that they were something special in a world steadily growing more ugly i had what you might call the only god can make a tree syndrome there was something mystic about trees i have written ec static columns about the trees around our place the matronly maples the we know that the percentage of retired and elderly persons living alone in town is high we know that because of physical handicaps and age they sometimes feel quite cut off from the rest of the com munity they are nervous not only of strangers coming to their doors but of what could happen should they suddenly be taken ill some we are told have their own arrangement of signals such as not having a light turned off or not raising a blind so that someone who is keeping track of their welfare can investigate others make a point of leaving a door open during the daytime some have a set time to phone each other to check if all is well we note that in some centres in the states projects known as telephone pals have been set up a list is kept of elderly people who wish the service and a phone call is made by some member of the organization sponsoring the project in a case where there is no answer a member living within the area is notified to see if everything is all right if not the proper authorities are notified this seems like an easy and useful project for any group to undertake it can be done by people in their own homes and gives some who have nothing to do but think about themselves a chance to think about someone else for a change bicycle mania we note with considerable interest that a young man in toronto has been charged with careless operation of a bicycyle the charge followed an incident in which a man was killed this brings up forcibly a point which has been bothering us for some time bicycles are vehicles under the highway traffic act and must obey the rules of the road laid out therein bicycling is becoming increasingly popular according to figures supplied by the ontario department of tran sportation and communications bicycle sales in north america have doubled in the past five years confirmation of this can be seen on any road or highway in the area obviously cyclists are extremely vulnerable even small motorcycles provide more safety for their riders than do bicycles while some of the more expensive machines currently on the market the peugeot 10speed for example are quite capable of 50 or 60 miles an hour they still leave the cyclist terribly unprotected all this is so obvious it would hardly be worth mentioning were it not that so many cyclists seem to be unaware of the facts the majority of bicycle riders of any age ride their machines in a manner calculated to induce nervous breakdowns in drivers who encounter them bicycles we believe have no place on a 60 mile per hour highway yet day after day we see cyclists calmly pumping along hwy 48 ignoring the wide smooth shoulder bicycle riders are not im mortal but to watch them cutting in and out of traffic anyone would think they were certain special regulations apply to bicycles yet many dont even have a rear fender let alone rearend reflectors many of these problems would no doubt disappear if special bicycle paths were constructed this has been done in europe and has been tried successfully we think in the beaches area along lake ontario such trails would be of benefit to everyone but wed also appreciate common sense from riders a little editors mail dear jim i always enjoy reading your column roaming around aug 5 article bird- watching is for the birds and your pic ture of those large white ones at the denton brown farm pond was of special interest to me about your fondness for birds being a bit effeminate i disagree now there may have been a time when birdwatching was associated with a little old woman of either sex who sat in the backyard all day peering through field glasses at those feathered songsters there may have been a time when bird- lovers hid their binoculars in a paper bag when someone approached if indeed that time did exist or still does the twelve million north americans like ourselves who have purchased bird books are not aware of it personally i feel much more effeminate when i get caught on rare occasions washing the dinner dishes seriously though it is disappointing to me that canadians are so far behind other countries in their knowledge of nature in all its aspects with regard to the hazards of trying to catch a bird on camera youre not kidding i clearly recall the time when my wife betty was so intent on photographing a rare warbler she tried to climb over a high barbed wire fence with camera and equipment in the pouring rain now it wouldnt have been so bad but the fence post where betty was doing her trapeze bit suddenly snapped off just as she raised her leg over the top wire then there was the time in fundy park new brunswick where i was just quietly adding a new bird to my list and not feeling the least bit effeminate when all of a sudden i realized that my pants were literally being torn off the act was carried out by an unfriendly female bobcat in a most undignified way having accomplished her mission of causing my hair to stand on end and my breath to come in short pants not to mention myself she retired into her den emitting a few loud snarls for good measure now about those cranes herons that you so nicely photographed ruling out the fact that they hadnt escaped from a zoo these birds could hardly be white heron since this species is a salt water bird with a very restricted range in and around florida bay and rarely as far north as miami your photograph clearly shows the open s neck and the dark legs a phone call to the brown home gave me the size about the same as the great blue heron the common egret is the only bird that fits this description the common egret a relative of the heron family is the largest of our egrets they have a habit of venturing northward after the breeding season sometimes reaching lake erie and lake st clair but rarely to lake ontario under protective laws in the us these magnificent egrets are making a comeback but sad to say in many countries of the world they are still being slaughtered for their plumes edge pegg clarement rr2 sign language at a road construction site a sign read road closed do not enter the other side proclaimed welcome back stupid magnificent oaks the towering spruce the virginly elms the lilacs the single butternut i have sat in my backyard and watched them by the hour deeply moved by the human qualities i gave them even that dirty great cedar that drips mucus or something all over the clothesline i have been fascinated by the clunking of acorns falling by the sweet longing whispers of my two elms by the mut tering of the dowager maples by the solitary arrogance of my spruce which i have to crawl under to get into my tool- shed but im beginning to have doubts like a priest who has been swept away by something he doesnt quite understand and then discovers that theres something rotten in denmark if not in his own backyard that snarl you cant quite hear outside my window is a chain saw the operator is backing up one of those brooding oaks which came crashing down during yesterdays summer storm cutting telephone hydro and indispensable of indispensables the tv cable wire both for myself and my next door neighbour and ill get out of that is a bill for 100 and twelve bucks worth of fireplace wood too green to do anything but smoulder id just got back from a long drive in 90- degree heat lugged in all the junk from the car and settled in the backyard with a cold drink and the evening paper when nature took one of her whims for a few minutes it was enjoyable the wind came up the lawn chairs went flying the acorns rattled and leaves and twigs hurtled down on me i even went in and called the girls to come out and enjoy the storm then the trees started to twist and dance even the mighty oaks were writhing like tormented creatures i love storms but when the rain came i dashed for shelter id suddenly remembered a storm at the cottage when i was a kid same thing purple sky dead calm sudden wind of cyclone force that knocked over giant pines like toothpicks and a torrent of rain one 80foot pine snapped about halfway up and smashed through the roof of the cottage it wasnt so bad this time but one of my oaks with a girth of about 40 inches lay there like a stricken bull it had destroyed a fence several smaller trees fortunately our neighbours had got the kids inside before the real fury of the wind broke and no one was hurt this morning i talked to the hydro man who was stringing new lines he said he aadiiis mates had worked all through the night in a driving rain and laconically remarked that it wasnt much fun but to get back to trees they provide shade and theyre pretty to look at what else they shower you with unwanted leaves in the fall they suck up all the juice and prevent you having a decent lawn my two virginal elms have been raped by the dutch disease and look just like a couple of gentle old maids who have been raped it will cost 200 to have them buried my giant spruce is uprooting my garage at a rate of about two inches each year my cedar it must be from lebanon ive never seen such a gawky thing in canada is little but a rendezvous for mating squirrels it would take wild horses to make me cut them all down but im beginning to think that perhaps trees are for the birds 40ftmin 3buunt silas q pettifogger by mark niblett its sad you know to see ontario wasting one of its greatest assets to make no use of a dedicated group of people who could bring untold honor and glory to the province why its almost criminal i refer to the civil servants or public servants or bureaucrats or whatever you want to call them among all the ontario bureaucrats those employed by the department of transportation and communications are outstanding examples this department is the brightest jewel in the crown of bureaucracy and the brightest facet of this jewel is made up of the people who test you for drivers licences the wench thats my wife and i have just emerged from the toils of these people battered torn horrorstruck we managed to escape and actually brought a motorcycle operators permit back with us to tell the story now lets have a little realism how good a driver is a man who learns in a field then plunges into traffic this defies all logic but in fact this is what motorcycle riders are expected to do there is apparently no such thing as a learners permit for a motorcycle you can ride unlicenced only on private property score one for bureaucracy also you have to make an appointment for a test this could easily be done by picking up the telephone but no silas q pettifogger the man who is no doubt behind all this decrees that an ap pointment must be made in person two for them when you show up to make an ap pointment you have to take a written test at this point they grab five bucks from you thats three for the bureaucrats the test they give is one of the silliest ive ever seen in a weedgrown field you have to weave in and out of markers on a little strip of pavement if you put your foot down on a turn you fail yet stamping down on a lowspeed turn is one of the commonest and safest practices in motorcycle riding besides these markers are pretty close together it would be physically im possible for the best rider in the world to make the turns on a bike larger than say 300 cc score four your road test consists of driving up and down on a nearby street turning signalling etc you never top 30 miles an hour and you might not encounter another vehicle but thats the test five for them also you can ride the bike to the test area on the day of your test but if you fail you cant ride it home again this provides employment for people who own e trucks thats six apparently there are only two test centres within about a 150 mile radius of toronto they only test on certain days of the week and at certain times of the year so you might wait 6 to 8 weeks for an appoimtment bureaucrats 7 public 0 they dont let a little bad weather bother them either the wench had to take her test in the pouring rain do you know what wet pavement does to the stability of a bike especially on tight turns thats eight nor can you use turn indicators hand signals only very few bikes built today lack mechanical indicators nine to them as a final crowning insult they demand two dollars before theyll issue you a licence when you pass at that point i almost wept t forget the score take it from me they won so there it is folks a fascinating glimpse into the very innards of ontario bureaucracy it takes nerves of steel to confront the machine but we made it as we left the licence bureau we saw the perfect end to a perfect day some poor bewildered chap was wandering around almost tearing his hair it seems he wanted to take a test for a chauffeurs licence one bureaucrat told him hed 4 lose his operators licence if he failed the test another in the same office be it noted said he wouldnt the guy was practically a basket case by the time we spotted him hed let the bureaucrats snare him like i said these people must be one of ontarios greatest natural resources all power to silas q pettifogger